Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Rector’s Charge, Annual Meeting 2016

Download Rector's Annual Report 2016-1

The Reverend Dr. Regina Christianson

It is the privilege of the rector to stand atop the mountain, search for glimpses of the Promised Land, witness to its reality, discern the patterns that will lead fellow pilgrims in the right direction, and exhort the company to rise up in joy to follow the Way. That is what a Charge is.

My charge to you is that we pay especial attention to four focuses in this next year. During my Rector’s Report, I quoted the Canon on Ministry of All Baptized Persons. The four focuses actually arise from it.   Allow me to repeat it:

Sec. 1. Each Diocese shall make provision for the affirmation and development of the ministry of all baptized persons, including: (a) Assistance in understanding that all baptized persons are called to minister in Christ's name, to identify their gifts with the help of the Church and to serve Christ's mission at all times and in all places. (b) Assistance in understanding that all baptized persons are called to sustain their ministries through commitment to life-long Christian formation.

The first is communication. While it may not be evident that this has anything to do with the Ministry of All Baptized, without it, the rest will fail. We have reinstituted the telephone tree because you have a good history with it. We will also recommit to regular communications through weekly mail announcements, monthly newsletters, and regular communications from the vestry. Exactly how each one of you individually receives these communications will be up to you. You will need to communicate to the church office how you wish to receive written communication. It may take us a while to get this all in place and working smoothly, but with your ongoing help and participation, we can accomplish timely, content-worthy communication.

The second is stewardship. Stewardship covers a lot of ground – everything from maintaining the church property to making sure money, energy, and gifts are used wisely. As we learned through the Creation story, we are created to be stewards. We are entrusted with God’s precious and beloved creation. In our context, being stewards means that we are entrusted with the legacy of Episcopal worship and values, the care for our parish family, our fellowship with other parishes and civic groups, and our responsibilities towards the larger community. We are gifted with stewardship so that we might follow Jesus, so that we might use these opportunities to find and be found in Christ. Walter Coles has written a document for us to help us identify our call to stewardship of time and talent. As part of our stewardship drive, For Emmanuel: Illustrative Goals and Committees for Discussion, is meant to inspire us, giving us concrete examples, inviting us into the process of creating meaningful ministries. To be Emmanuel Church in Chatham, Virginia, in 2017: where in this do you find God? Where in this is your stewardship? Those two questions are the heart of the next area of focus, holy discernment.

Stewardship Renewal Begins at Emmanuel

During this time each year, Emmanuel asks all parishioners to renew their commitments of time, talents, and money to the work of the parish and the larger church.

Jayne dePaulo, Senior Warden 2016, in her letter to the parish reflects on all of the changes and accomplishments which have occurred during 2016 and how the events of this year position us to grow and move forward together in service and love to God, our communities, and each other.

    Read Jayne’s letter to the parish.

As we contemplate our stewardship commitments for the coming year, the Reverend Dr. Regina Christianson, offers some thoughts about what it means to be Christians:

“Stewardship is what we, as Christians, do…. As parishioners, we are called to invest time, treasure, and talent. Faithful stewards of God’s bounty, we are called to prayerfully consider how best each one of us can support this particular parish, this particular congregation, this particular mission of God.”

    Read Dr. Christianson’s letter to the parish.

Finally, attached is a draft of parish goals and committees for the coming year. Please read, think, make recommendations, make comments, and respond to the vestry accordingly.

    Read the draft Emmanuel Goals and Committees.

Please join us at Emmanuel on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. for Holy Eucharist, followed by Coffee Hour, and meet our new priest, the Reverend Dr. Regina Christianson.

Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Give All You Got!

Mark 12:38-44 - The Widow's Mite

Homily by Fr. R Christopher Heying

Few texts for preaching during the fall stewardship campaign could be more advantageous than this reading today from Mark’s gospel about the widow. 

And in thanksgiving not only for the content of the story but its timeliness, perhaps we might call this fall’s campaign: “Give All You Got.” 

The “Give All You Got” campaign makes things simple.

Anguishing over whether I should give ten percent before or after taxes?  Gone.

Determining what to do if I don’t happen to like Item 2601c or Item 4834b in the proposed budget?  Irrelevant.

There is an added benefit to the “Give All You Got” campaign. 

It takes the pressure off of those of us who may just happen to like walking around in long robes, being greeted with respect on Main Street, having the best seat at ChathaMooCa, and being invited to preach the community service on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and—even better—to bless the Yuletide log at Chatham’s Christmas celebration the first weekend in December.

There’s only one problem with the “Give All You Got” campaign this year.  It’s that it may force us next year to go with the “What the Heck Happened Last Year?” campaign.